The game originally designed for the western market Guild Wars 2 is conquering China. It is performing exceptionally well on current trend lists. Additionally, the streams of tournaments are reaching many viewers and are being heavily featured along with prize money and well-endowed ladies.
It must be a strange sight for western eyes when watching the presentation of a Guild Wars 2 e-sport tournament. The event’s host is draped on a sofa horizontally, nibbling coquettishly on her index finger. Apparently, the pants were just out of stock. But why would a host of a live event need them?
It is a foreign world into which NCSoft is releasing Guild Wars 2. However, they have found a strong partner in KongZhong. They plan to become the largest provider of “Wargaming” in China, the genre and the games of the same-named company. The Chinese version of World of Tanks is played by 40 million Chinese. They intend to expand their dominance: With World of Warships and Blitzkrieg 3, they currently have more hot irons in the fire. However, the first half of the year is entirely focused on the Guild Wars 2 import.
According to the figures from the recently released financial report, GW2 has been sold 550,000 times, with every fifth copy being a Deluxe Edition. A week after release, 70% of players are still actively participating, and the willingness to spend money in the in-game shop was higher than usual. On a trend barometer, it ranks as the highest-rated MMO even before World of Warcraft in fifth place.
GW2 is particularly successful in the e-sports sector. The streams from the tournaments achieve excellent statistics. The prize money for the tournament that the previously described lady is promoting is 6000 Yuan for the first place. This corresponds, according to reddit, to a little more than an average monthly salary in China. So it can definitely be seen, even if it pales in comparison to the large sums paid in League of Legends or DOTA 2.
